


Thread of Fate

by theauthoress



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Plothole Fill, an excuse for me to write about how istus and fate works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-20 23:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15544068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theauthoress/pseuds/theauthoress
Summary: Across the multiverse, every Istus in creation feels a subtle draw. As the goddesses of fate, they are used to obeying their whims, as even the most insignificant urge often leads them to do exactly what they need to. In unison, a single red thread is woven into the fate of every world, the fate of creation itself.AKA Why Faerun is so similar to the Two-Sunned Planet.





	Thread of Fate

Istus holds a loose thread between her fingers. The vibrant red is unlike anything else in the tapestry that pools around her, filling the halls of her domain here in the Celestial Plane. She tugs on the curious thread, simply because she feels the urge to, and it tightens, drawing a red line across an otherwise green and silver pattern. It doesn’t fit, yet she knows it is precisely where it needs to be.

For a time, the thread had puzzled her. True, the images she weaves are often unclear to her until she finished, but never before had she seen a thread that she knew nothing about. In fact, it first entered the tapestry when she reached for a bit more silver and found that a new spool had appeared at the top of her basket.

Oddly enough, it was Pan who finally brought her clarity. He spoke of an odd prayer he received the day she found the thread. A strange dwarf prayed to him, claiming to be from another planar system and asking for Pan’s support for “healing and all that shit” that he had gotten from other Pans on his long journey. Pan liked him immediately.

Istus watched the dwarf and his six companions closely as they recovered a powerful source of light and began studying at the Arcaneum. Now, their time on her world is coming to an end. The red spool is almost out.

Istus continues to weave their thread into her tapestry as she listens to the human and elf lovers explain a plan to the rest of their crew. They are so tired, yet they remain noble. They want to save every world from the enemy that hunts them. Istus gives her thread basket a quick glance. There is an awful lot of black thread, but the seven travelers have saved them from the worst of it by claiming this “Light of Creation.”

They have suffered greatly, though Istus cannot see the full extent of it. Most is not in her weaving. If the dwarf finds Pan in every world, then perhaps their hardships are woven across the works of many Istuses. (Isti? She’s never had to think of herself in plural before. How odd.) When she hears their plan, she knows it’s the least she can do to help them along their way.

Should their plan work, the world they land on will be their new home. Istus decides they deserve something nice. Perhaps something familiar. She’s never contacted another Istus, barely even thought of them before, but as she leads the red thread towards the edge of the tapestry, she sends a little thought out into the world: _Help them._

She ties off the last bit of the thread and the red line is done, hanging onto the edge as if it’s a puzzle piece waiting to be connected with the rest of itself. The goddess’s prayer receives no answer, but she has a good feeling about it.

Across the multiverse, every Istus in creation feels a subtle draw. As the goddesses of fate, they are used to obeying their whims, as even the most insignificant urge often leads them to do exactly what they need to. In unison, a single red thread is woven into the fate of every world, the fate of creation itself. Dozens of goddesses absorbed in darkness, unaware of even their own name, feel an urge to weave. The red streaks on the surface of the Hunger glow brighter for a moment before they forget what it is to have their own urges.

None of them know it, but together, every Istus weaves open a path in brilliant crimson. A path perfect for a single silver ship that harbors seven weary birds.

One Istus suddenly feels very special as she adds two quick stitches to her weaving: a small red X in a section of weaving she had finished long ago. She examines the area around her addition. These threads control the fates of a clan of dwarves on the Prime Material Plane. The Rockseekers must be in for a simply delightful surprise.


End file.
